AS Film Studies Unit FM1

Introduction to Micro Features:

Editing

Lesson Aims

By the end of the lesson you will be able to:

• Understand and apply editing terminology

• Deconstruct how editing is used to communicate meaning

THIS IS THE HARDEST MICRO FEATURE!

Definition: Editing • Editing a film involves

selecting and combining shots into sequences

• Good editing is a critical element in getting the audience to understand the film’s story, by creating or enhancing mood, emotion and character.

• The director needs to create enough shots for the editor to choose from to tell the story.

Using the script as a guide, an editor

decides how best to use film footage to

construct the scene. A scene is a self-

contained, continuous series of shots

that show a particular dramatic and/or

narrative moment. Sometimes, an entire

scene might just comprise a single shot if

it is an appropriately long take.

The editor adds one scene to another to

form a sequence, which is a self-

contained group of sequential scenes

grouped around a specific set of sections

of the narrative. Editing all of the

sequences together will finally give us a

finished film.

Montage

• A montage is created through an assembly of quick cuts, disconnected time or place, that combine to form a larger idea. A montage is frequently used to convey passage of time, coming of age, or emotional transition

Parallel Editing

• This occurs when two scenes are shot in sequence, but presented by cutting back and forth between them. This creates a sense of two actions occurring simultaneously in two different locations

Split Screen

• A split screen runs two shots side-by-side within a single frame. Like parallel editing, a split screen create the idea of simultaneous action.

• Split screen was a staple of the 1950s and 1960s

Dissolves

• Dissolves blend one shot into another. This achieved optically by fading out the first shot while the second shot fades up. A dissolve softens a cut. Dissolves can be brief or extended depending how ‘soft’ the film maker wants the effect to be

• they are often used to show the passage of time – this is referred to as ELLIPTICAL EDITING

Expanding Time – Overlapping Action

• This ads dramatic value to a scene. It can shine a light on a particular moment or an entre scene. It is often used to underscore important plot twists, climatic scenes, and pivotal emotional revelations

• Suspense is evoked by milking the scene with the clever use of cutaways and reaction shots. In this way time can be stopped by extending the time it takes for the moment to play out on screen

Graphic Match

• Graphic matching is when a scene links to another scene using the same shape or colour – this can occur with the use of a cut or a dissolve

Visual Match Cut (Idea)

• A cut on idea is when two shots are cut together and by their juxtaposition, a third idea is suggested. This new ides is the sum of the first two

Fast Motion (Time Compression)

• Fast Motion compresses reality, this technique is used for those scene that need to be especially heightened

• Slowing down reality is often used to show how a character sees the world when in the midst of a traumatic event

Rhythm & Pace

• Editing sets the rhythm or pace of a scene. This could be dictated by either the music used behind a scene or the mood that the editor is trying to create and the pace that you edit. To build up tension in a scene you might cut from one shot to another very quickly. However, in a relaxed scene the editing will progress at a much slower pace, dwelling longer on each shot.

Long Take

Jump Cuts, Match Cut, Cut Away

Continuity Editing

• Despite all this art and craft, the audience hardly ever notices good editing.

• Although we know that we are watching pieces of film joined together, we are so used to continuity editing that we accept what is happening on screen providing that it follows the rules that we have learnt through watching other films or narratives.

• Shot reverse shot• 180 degree rule• Match on action• Straight Cut

• The use of continuity editing makes action on the screen ‘appear’ to be seamless

Editing is something of an ‘invisible art’, because we

rarely notice the cut between one shot and

another.